The rebellion over school reforms gathered pace at a packed meeting of MPs last night. Lord Kinnock joined other former cabinet members to outline his objections to the white paper released in October, and to endorse the launch of a pamphlet by the pressure group Compass which attacks the paper's proposals for "storing up trouble for generations to come".

Other prominent figures present included former Number 10 communications director Alastair Campbell, whose partner Fiona Millar co-wrote the document, and the former education secretary Lady Morris.

Lord Kinnock told the audience that the white paper proposals, which aim to give schools more freedom over admissions and encourage greater involvement of business and faith groups, threatened the educational chances of generations of children.

"The problem fundamentally is that - if we are to see the creation of autonomous schools with a separate system of governance and finance that could be taken over ... by commercial, faith or other interests - we are then seeing the dreadful shattering of the school system," he said.

More than 90 MPs last month signed up to an alternative white paper, while a critical report due next week by a select committee of MPs is to recommend that admissions policies be kept under the control of local education authorities.

Lady Morris told the audience attempts by ministers to "re-explain" the reforms to backbenchers had backfired. "What the white paper does is point a direction of travel," said Lady Morris. "And if we do not stem it now ... it's a direction of travel that will be unstoppable."

Draft conclusions of a report on the government white paper from the education and skills select committee stress that fair access for all children must take priority over "choice and diversity".

"The goal should be to achieve the best combination of a diverse range of skills with admissions governed by a scrupulously fair process policed by the local authority," the report concludes, according to a version leaked to Channel 4.